The present invention relates to a recording method for verifying if information has been correctly recorded in an apparatus which records and reproduces information by a relative linear reciprocal movement between the recording and reproducing apparatus and a recording medium. Recently, information has been optically or magnetically recorded by relatively and linearly reciprocating a write unit of the recording and reproducing apparatus (hereinafter called a recording head) relative to a card-like recording medium. In this case, it is important to rapidly verify if the information has been correctly recorded after the write operation.
FIG. 1 shows a technique to verify if the information has been correctly recorded or not. Numeral 1 denotes an information track on a recording medium on which the information is to be recorded, numeral 2 represents a movement direction of a recording head relative to the recording medium in writing operation, and numeral 3 represents a movement direction of the recording head relative to the recording medium in a period between the writing operation and the information read operation for verifying the recorded information. When the recording head is moved in the direction 3, the writing operation and the reading operation are not performed. The head movement in this period is called an idling movement. Numeral 4 represents a relative movement direction of the recording head relative to the recording medium when the recorded information is verified, and numeral 5 represents a movement direction of the recording head relative to the recording medium when the recording head is returned to a home position in preparation for the next writing operation. In the writing operation which uses such a record check method, two times of relative movement between the recording head and the recording medium are required to record information on one information track and two times of idling movement are performed during the two times of reciprocal movement. Accordingly, recording and verification read times are long.